A series of flags corresponding with the top-destinations – Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Russia – shapes a zigzagging road to a fictional horizon.

The “ReturningfromGermany” ad campaign is the latest tactic by the German government to boost departures and deter migration, in a reversal of Angela Merkel’s controversial welcoming policy of 2015 at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. The campaign is the brainchild of interior minister Horst Seehofer, Merkel’s rebellious right-wing rival, who forced a coalition crisis over Germany’s asylum policy last summer.

German Chancello Angela Merkel and Horst Seehofer, head of Bavarian Christian Democrats, at the annual CDU federal congress on December 15, 2015 in Karlsruhe, Germany.Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

While arrivals have normalized since three years ago – when Germany got 700,000 asylum requests – rejected asylum claims have piled up. The billboard campaign is mainly targeting the 235,000 persons who are still required to leave the country, the interior ministry says.

So why haven’t they left? The large majority of asylum seekers simply cannot be sent back – their claims have been rejected, but they cannot be returned because their country of origin is too dangerous, they lack documentation papers or suffer from illness. It’s a deadlock acknowledged by the German government itself: These 170,000 people are given special status – duldung (or tolerated) – to stay on temporarily. The others – those who are eligible for deportation according to the German yardstick – frequently don’t show up for their deportation. More than 20,000 airport repatriations were scrubbed this year; half of all scheduled. Every second person went missing in the run-up to departure.

A German police officer scrutinizes a car at the border between Austria and Germany near the Bavarian village of Kiefersfelden, southern Germany, on June 22, 2018.CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images

So Seehofer took to the streets with his billboard campaign – aiming to push for voluntary departures. What’s he offering? A gift capped at 1,000 euros for a single person, 3,000 for families – to provide for basic facilities. Offering financial incentives to leave isn’t new. Since May 2017, the “ReturningfromGermany” portal shows the way to compensation fees and more than a thousand counselling centres to help navigate the return path.

Germany has a “stepping stone system. You get more money if you choose to leave earlier on,” says Meike Riebau, lawyer and migration expert at Save the Children Germany.

She is no fan of the current campaign.

“It’s a tasteless Christmas present.”

Depending on their nationality, asylum seekers can receive 1,200 euros if they return before the asylum procedure is completed; which drops to 800 after a rejected claim. But the 800 still beckons if they decide to depart voluntarily within 30 days.

The backlash against the billboards and the campaign has swollen quickly. Many have been painted over with one-liners such as “All migrants welcome”. More than 30,000 people have signed the petition “Your future without Horst” in response – calling out their minister for bargaining an uncertain future at Christmas.

“It’s insensitive and a very bad deal: 1,000 euros will not make anyone go anywhere if they don’t have a future,” says petition founder Hannah Huebner. The billboards have also had an unintended side-effect: The ad doesn’t specify the target group clearly, causing irritation and confusion among Germany’s migrant population at large – currently estimated at 15 per cent.

“The Turkish flag on the poster is particularly difficult. Many Turks have been here for decades,” says Huebner. A group of 70 companies has filed a letter to the German government explaining the numerous questions they’ve had from international workers about whether they’re also requested to leave.

But the entire billboard-exercise may turn out to be pointless. Theresa May tried the same thing five years ago in Britain when she was home secretary. Vans drove through neighbourhoods with the billboards reading “Go home or face arrest”.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has released its last budget before the fall federal election

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